


Brother, Don't Bother

by joyfulsongbird



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M, WARNINGS:, long lost brother, talk of past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 16:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21359218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyfulsongbird/pseuds/joyfulsongbird
Summary: Based on my Headcanon that when Eurydice still lived at home, she had an older brother who ran away when she was 13 or 14. The long lost brother fic no one asked for but I wrote and posted anyways.
Relationships: Eurydice/Orpheus (Hadestown)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Brother, Don't Bother

Springtime left a sweet taste of honey in Eurydice’s mouth. Orpheus’ smile left the hint of honeydew on her lips. Persephone had only been back about a two weeks and the world was all green and flourishing with too many colors to name. Eurydice shed her outer layer, flouncing about in her black lace dress, an unbuttoned mens vest hanging about her shoulders. The shoulders were too broad for her small frame but she refused to give it up, they had enough spare change for her to buy a new jacket or another dress as Orpheus reminded her constantly, but she refused, saying she didn’t need anything new. They put that money away for safekeeping, for a rainy day. You never know when a storm will hit, when a fire gets out of control, when clothes rip, when chairs break. They saved it for emergencies, always fearing for the worst. It was how she was wired, it worried her husband sometimes. Habits are hard to break and lifelong habits the hardest. But she tried not to worry, afterall, it was spring.

The young couple walked through the town, arm in arm. Just to enjoy the sunshine, hear the birds sing. Sometimes they sat beneath a tree and Orpheus would sing. And for a moment, the birds quieted and there was only him.

Love grew richer in this season, a love already so rich got stronger. A bond carried over from hardships tightened and then loosened, letting them relax into each other.

It was days like these that they walked about. But today, Eurydice felt eyes on her back. It reminded her unnervingly of Hadestown, constant vigilance, the foreman shoving her forward, workworkworkworkworkcan'tstopwork-

“Love, are you alright?” Orpheus’ hand on her forearm jarred her back into reality.

She licked her lips. “Yes, I’m fine, I just feel as if… as if someone’s watching us. It’s silly, I know, but I look at the faces of the people on the porches and in the window of the stores and it’s like I’m looking for someone I know. Like I saw them earlier and didn’t even realize it.”

“It’s not silly,” he assured her. “Truly. I’ll keep an eye out. Perhaps it’s one of those older kids, playing a trick on us.”

She nodded, not convinced but willing to allow her lover to walk her down Main street. People said hello as they passed by, Eurydice smiled back, happy to know that she’s been here long enough to be recognized amongst long time patrons.

Her anxiety came to a peak when they entered the trading post, the man at the counter, trying to negotiate a price for flour looked oddly familiar. Perhaps this was the problem she’d been having all day. Yes, she’d seen this olive skinned, dark haired man this morning, watching her and Orpheus from the forest line. She sighed, content that her problem had been solved and that she could enjoy the glorious weather that wouldn’t last forever. But to her dismay, the feeling persisted even more. Her stomach churned, a memory stirred somewhere in the back of her mind.

“I might sit down.” she said under her breath. Orpheus’ eyes snapped to her face, immediately. “I feel faint.”

Guiding her gently to sit on a box by the window, she could see the dark haired man, still by the counter. Who? She needed to know? Who was he? Someone she had seen down below? No, that was impossible. Perhaps a man she’d seen at the bar. Or someone from before she knew Orpheus, someone who took advantage of a young girl in need. None of the ideas fit.

It wasn’t until Orpheus touched her more intimately that the man turned around, revealing he’d been watching the couple’s interaction from the glass behind the clerk’s desk.

Orpheus pushed back her bangs. “You don’t have a fever.” his cold hand felt at her neck, a trick Hermes had taught him to look for fever, brushing his thumb briefly on her collarbone. Not an unwelcome touch by any means, but one that bothered the man at the desk.

He whirled around. “Get your hands off of her, man.”

Eurydice narrowed her eyes at him, looking, looking, looking for some sign of who he existed as in her mind.

Orpheus stumbled with his words. “I-I’m… I didn’t mean- I’m-”

“Don’t apologize.” she told him strictly. “You didn’t do anything wrong…” to the mystery man: “Who even are you?”

A flash of hurt poisoned his face, furrowing his eyebrows and darkening his already pitch black eyes. “Gods, has it been that long, sis?”

Her legs carry her faster than her mind can move.

She’s sobbing into his shoulder before even knowing how she got there. He’s so tall, so damn tall that her feet dangle in the air but she doesn’t care.

“Cas,” she cried into shirt, “oh my- how-?”

She can hear the smile and tears in his voice. “Fate, destiny, whatever. I’ve been looking for so long… I never imagined I’d find you.”

“I thought you were gone forever.” she pulls away, planting a kiss on his cheek and setting herself on two feet again. She examines him then. “You’ve changed.”

He’s taller, bulkier than Orpheus’ lanky frame. Cheekbones more prominent in his face. As per usual, his hands are twice the size of hers.

“So have you!” he laughs. She giggles, swiping the tears from her cheeks furiously.

“Yeah, well, it’s been awhile.” she sniffles into her hands, another hiccuping sob rising in her throat.

“You’ll be turning twenty three in a couple months then?” he asks, the conversation feels like it’s being weighed down by lead. Years of separation. The heaviness of family history is on their shoulders.

She nodded. “And you just turned twenty seven in December… we’re old, Cas!”

“Not too old, yet.”

Her eyes finally wandered from her brother’s face back to Orpheus’, whom she had briefly forgotten about in the heat of the moment.

“This is my older brother, the one I told you about, Castor. Cas, this is Orpheus.” Orpheus steps forward, holding out a polite hand to shake. Castor hesitates before shaking it.

“Can I ask you a blunt question?”

“I- um- sure?” she knew he was having a tough time with the situation, she’d only briefly explained who Castor was before this day, and he hadn’t even had a name to him until a few moments ago.

“Why were you putting your hands all over my sister?”

“Well, I… Eurydice?” he squeaked out.

“I should’ve finished my introductions more thoroughly. Castor, this is Orpheus, my husband.” The look Eurydice gave him had a clear intention: don’t say anything more about it. But of course, with a similar spirit as the sister, he didn’t listen.

“Can we speak in private?” he asked.

“No,” Eurydice said. “We should leave the store, go home. We’ll talk more there.”

The silence filled the air. “… home?”

“Yes.” she clipped back, grabbing Orpheus’ hand and motioning for Castor to follow. “We don’t live far. But of course, you know that. You watched us all morning, didn’t you?”

He nodded as they exited the trading post. “I wasn’t even sure it was you. You look so different now.”

Eurydice couldn’t help but smile at the memory. She nudged Orpheus’ shoulder. “Fourteen year old me was a different picture for sure. Long hair, no bangs, even shorter and skinnier.”

“I can’t seem to picture you without bangs.” Orpheus laughed, he reached up as if to brush hair from her eyes, but lowered his hand quickly when remembering the third wheel in their presence.

“It was a darker time.” Eurydice said.

“I know.” Castor said calmly. Eurydice blinked hard, feeling a stinging in the back of her eyes, this time trying to force her tears back.

“Why didn’t you bring me with you?” she asked. He opened his mouth, closed it again, no answer ready on his lips. “You said you’d take me with you, that when you left you’d bring me. You promised.”

“‘rydice, I can’t explain- there’s no reasonable explanation- you were so young.” he attempted to spit out some sort of half apology, half explanation. She felt her anger rise in her chest. The springtime feeling long gone. As they approach their home, she feels the urge to rush inside, crawl under the blankets like she does in the winter, and burrow away from the world until Orpheus brings her back to reality with a beautiful song. Her tongue feels like lead, lips numb with an empty feeling.

The Fates are back suddenly.

he left you behind.

he never loved you.

why should he?

Shaking her head, as she fumbles for her key, she tries to get rid of these thoughts. These are the same thoughts that nearly poisoned her relationship with Orpheus. She’s learning to recognize them as false, know that they are just figmented to bring her anger, sadness, force her to look at the men surrounding her as predators. It worked for so long, she’s working every day to be better. But every once in awhile, through a crack, they slip in.

“Orpheus, do you mind waiting outside? We won’t be long.” she asked, he nodded quietly. Giving her hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go. She yearns for his warmth back but steps inside the small home nonetheless.

Castor closes the door behind them slowly. Eurydice busies herself, picking up the scattered clothes and undergarments that lie on the floor. Dumping them unceremoniously into the top drawer, planning to organize them later.

“Eurydice.” Castor said loudly, as she moved about. “Eurydice.”

“What?!” she answered.

“Husband?” he said, moving to pace with her through the kitchen. “Are you serious?”

“Why would I lie? Yes, he’s my husband.” With nothing more to pick up from the floor, she hovers awkwardly by the dining table.

“Why? You’re so young. Twenty two! That’s way too young to get married.”

“Cas-”

“Did he force you? Eurydice, I swear, if he-”

“No! Gods, no! Of course not.” she shouted, angry that he would even insinuate that about Orpheus. That he’d even suggest that such a kind souled man would even consider such a thing. “I made this choice. I love him. It isn’t like I’m a kid making some rash decision.”

Castor rubbed his forehead, walking back and forth before her. “How long have you known each other?”

“Is this really what we should be talking about?”

“How long?”

“I was nineteen, he was eighteen.”

He nodded. “And? When did you get engaged?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Spill, little sister.”

“It’s actually that complicated, Castor.” she assured him. “It’s a story for a day when emotions aren’t so high. All you need to know is that we got married last summer.”

“How did you meet?”

She groaned. “This isn’t the focus of our conversation. This is just my life. Orpheus is my husband, that’s that. He’s my home and nothing you say changes that. So let’s move on to something more important like… like how did you get here? Where have you been all this time?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Here and there. Everywhere.”

“where did you go?”

“North.” he said simply. “I stayed there for awhile. I was trying to build a life but then I heard that it was warmer down here a couple years ago. It was slow going, I had to stop for weeks, sometimes months at a time in the winters. But I got here, someone told me this is where spring is the strongest and I see a girl, with black hair and… a little nose… and dark eyes like mine. As soon as I heard your voice, I knew for sure it was my lost sister.”

“Why didn’t you bring me with you?” she forces out the words, despite the fact they hurt.

“I came back for you, you know, a few years later. Probably when you were about seventeen. But you were already gone.”

“You think I’d stay there for that long? After you left me alone? I was long gone before my fifteenth birthday!” she could feel herself getting more hysterical as time went on. she needed to say these things to him. It wasn’t the same to talk to Orpheus, she needed to say them to his face.

“If you’d just taken me with you, we could’ve worked together! We could’ve built something! I wouldn’t have needed to… Cas, you have no idea what I’ve done to survive. What I did to get myself to this place where I am happy with who I am and where I am. And if… gods-”

“What have you done to survive? What sort of things?” and raising her eyes to his, she could see some semblance of innocence in his gaze. He has had an easier life than her. He is intimidating and large and got through life with a built path whereas she had to pave the way for herself. Brick by brick, she made it here.

She shook her head. “So much. It’s harder for a girl to get through life without giving up pieces of herself… Orpheus was never like that-”

“'that’?”

“He isn’t selfish. He’s good. Kind. Didn’t want me just because I’m pretty or to take me all to himself. Other people… you don’t know what it’s been like, my walk through life has not been easy. And people take advantage of that.”

It dawned on him, finally, what she was dancing around. What sort of work she did for all of these years. And in a dramatic fashion, he fell to his knees, before her and grabbed her hands. Pressing a kiss to each of her palms.

“I wish I’d taken you with me.” he whispered.

“me too.” Eurydice replied, peering down at the man before her. “Cas, don’t feel guilty now. I’m happy. I have a good life now, a husband I love, people who love me. I’m whole here. Are you whole where you are?”

He didn’t stand up from his kneeling position, but continued to look up at her, and she felt his reverence emanating from his body. He admired her for her strength, for the hope she kept safe in her chest.

“I don’t know.”

“You can stay with us, if you want.” she murmurs, knowing what his answer will be.

“No… I can’t.”

“Well,” Eurydice smiles, feeling the tears prickling their slow track down her cheeks again. She sees when he stands that his cheeks are wet and shining. “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, you know where to find me.”

Tugging her closer, she buries her face in his chest, breathing him in one more time. “Come back after this. Promise me, for real.”

“I will. I will next spring, when I have my shit together. I’ll come back with something good, anything good to show you.”

“Good.” she grins. “I love you, big brother.”

“I love you.”

Neither of them ever say the words goodbye. That’d feel too much like a finality. Because she’s going to hold him to it. Next spring. He’s coming back next spring.

Spring better be back early next year.


End file.
